This proposal seeks to establish a Michigan Exploratory Center on Aging as a joint project of the Population Studies Center and Institute for Social Research. The Center will specialize in the management, dissemination, and analysis of several large datasets, such as the Health and Retirement Survey and U.S. Census, which are critical for conducting basic research and policy on the following topics in aging: The determinants of retirement and consequences for health and well-being The relationship between socioeconomic status and health Demographic and survey methods for studying elderly populations The dynamics of intergenerational exchanges Demographic analysis of the aging of disadvantaged populations Demographic/economic evaluation of the impact of public policies (e.g. eligibility Social Security, pensions, disability insurance) on retirement A broad range of mechanisms will strengthen aging research at Michigan and increase contact with the external research community. These include: Regular meetings of Center members to share news about the field, report on personal research, and plan Center activities. Pilot projects Semi-annual mini-conference on a specific topic of high interest. A program of visiting speakers to "infiltrate" existing seminars and colloquia Development of new courses or units in health and aging A Unix workstation and supporting services dedicated to the major datasets Development of special programs for exploring and extracting files from large datasets Summer workshops on specific topics, datasets, software, methodologies Electronic networks providing bulletin board, online archives, helplines to internal and external users. We also propose to serve the coordinating center function that will link all NIA Exploratory Centers on the Demography of Aging